Mr Fufu

I had a new windshield installed in my ‘67 coupe a couple of weeks ago. I got the windshield from Auto Coty Classic, which looks great.

The old windshield was a PPG replacement, installed many years ago. My glass guy discovered that the windshield mouldings had been glued in using a thin bead of black urethane adhesive. My glass guy had to use a razor blade to cut the urethane bond to remove the mouldings before replacing the windshield.

I spent a good two hours thoroughly cleaning all glue from the mouldings. When the installer went to reattach the mouldings he couldn’t get them to ‘stay down’ in certain places, like in the lower center of the windshield, and the top corner mouldings. He advised to glue the mouldings down, as was done before, using black urethane adhesive.



Here you can see the top corner moulding after being glued down with urethane. Note the bits of black glue along the top edge of the moulding where it meets the paint.

What solvent can I use to remove the extra urethane glue without damaging the paint? The car is finished with base-clear (2 stage) paint, applied over 35 years ago.

Thanks for your advice.

macdabs

PPG DX330 wax and grease remover with a soft cloth works the majority of the time and won't hurt the paint . Can be purchased at the paint jobbers in qrt cans or gallons . It is good for cleaning and wiping anything down before paint on bare metal or painted. Handy to have in the shop for even bugs,tar and tree sap before a wax coat.
Mac

mike coletta

There is nothing that is going to release that urethane from the paint without screwing up the paint. DX330 is a cleaner, not an adhesive remover. Don't waste your money on that.. Urethane has a very good mechanical "bite", and will be very hard to remove. 3M adhesive remover might get it done with some patience. Buy the liquid, and not the spray can. Use a q-tip to apply to the exposed edge, and keep it wet. Try not to let it get down behind the trim, or it might release the whole thing. After about 15 or twenty minutes of keeping the edge of the adhesive wet, try using your fingernail, or a plastic razor blade to release it from the paint, and cut it off. Good luck.

DansYellow66

In addition to 3M adhesive remover there is gasket remover to that softens gaskets and gasket adhesive. Not sure if it would work as well as 3M adhesive remover for this though. I don’t think it would hurt urethane paint but I would test first on some inconspicuous area first. And Mike makes some excellent points about using anything sparingly.

jwindarwin

Minimum should have new rubber seal and new clips installed. Possibly some w/s trim straightened . All that with a prayer to the windshield gods and MAYBE then the trim would have fit without urethane.
No matter what, getting C2 glass trim to fit and stay can be a crapshoot!

Some type of non metallic scraper and patience is your best bet at that his point.

Good luk!

Ol Blue

The door chip protective strip on my Chevy pickup was faded and loose so I removed it. I used the 3M adhesive remover to get the remaining adhesive off of the paint. I used plastic scrapers and for the most part it worked well. HOWEVER, there were a couple of small places that I must have left the remover on too long and it softened the paint just enough that when scraping (maybe pressing to hard) some paint came off with the adhesive.
Gary

TheSaint

I think the only way to get the urethane adhesive off is to take off the corner moldings and scratching it off using your finger nails

It for sure will take some time to get it off..

When i took out the windshield of my Corvette i had bought all of the molding trim clips so i had all new clips. I also replaced the window seal with a new one..

I had no problem fasteing the moldings on my Corvette..

Sometime you will have to carerful "massage" the trim to get a proper fit..

Mr Fufu

Good tips guys! I’ll try the 3M adhesive remover, going at it gently with a plastic scraper, and hope this does the job without damaging the paint underneath.

nutt

I'd try various concentrations on your paint in very hidden areas long before I'd let that burn into my clearcoat in an area as exposed as the windshield trim. Good urethane clear is very resilient, but not impervious.